Federal Employees Labor Relations Act of 2014 (Vetoed)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

NAY

I seem to recall having composed a post on Thursday, but for some reason it did not go through. I hope I am not the only one having trouble with the Atlas lately, because it is getting rather annoying.

Anyway, the first off I must make the same points as before that having people strike against the public interest is not the same as having them strike for a bigger stake of the returns from a private endeavor. Granted, public workers should be safe and have decent pay and some means to advocate for those, but to have teachers walk out of the classroom, to have doctors walk out of brain surgery, to have firefighters walk out of a burning house is not only a public hazard but it is also not a negotiation. In a private enterprize, the item at stake is profit and the strike is a bet against time that the owner will be hurt enough by the lost profits and productivity to negotiate. In the public sphere, it is not time being sacrificed but public interest and in some cases, public safety. In those circumstances, there is no middle ground, there is no negotiation and there is no evenly matched set of interests. Instead, one person has a gun and a hostage, the other a desperate desire to see the hostage survive. Who do you think will always win in that scenario?

Even with collective bargaining you run into the same problem, and even more so if the person on the other side of the desk was put there with donations from the very same advocacy group (teacher's/police unions). The negotiations become likewise one side and the public interest is not evenly negotiated with the teacher's interest, but instead the balance is heavily skewed in one direction. Often this has led to lavish pension promises that cannot possibly be kept by towns and municipalities too small to eat such high and long lasting costs, hency the debt problem so many of them are facing. This approach is prefereable because it has no impact on the budget in short term, the other side is pleased and taxes don't have to go up now to pay for them. Later on, the situation becomes apparent and the town essentially ends up walking dead financially speaking.

I don't know how to bridge this gap so that there is advocacy without this one sided relationship. I do know that it is in the publc's best interest to find a wy to bridge that gap because neither underpaid teachers, nor overwhelming pension liabilities (and in some cases we actually have both at the same time in many areas if not most ironically) are viable paths long term.

The shame of it is, my previous post was the closest thing to one my old style walls of text, approaching six paragraphs. I am pissed that it vanished into cyberspace when I hit post.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

tl;dr Yankee

Mission Accomplished!

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I hope that the President offers a redraft, and not simply issues a veto. I am more than willing to discuss probable changes of a redraft, but I will of principle never support a veto, that might again be the pinko European in me. (in the sense of "muh legislative decisions be left alone by executive!!1!!)

blah blah blah checks and balances blah.

Oh snap, I just stole TNF's material.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I hope that the President offers a redraft, and not simply issues a veto. I am more than willing to discuss probable changes of a redraft, but I will of principle never support a veto, that might again be the pinko European in me. (in the sense of "muh legislative decisions be left alone by executive!!1!!)

blah blah blah checks and balances blah.

Oh snap, I just stole TNF's material.

Do you really want a reply to this?

But no checks and balances means tyranny something something.

Europe also has quite a bit of examples of tyrannical assemblies, particularly just to the South back in the good ole days.

Though I should note this nortion is hardly European. NC had no veto for over a century until it was restablished in the early 1990's (redistricting exempted because whilst a Republican may get Governor, Dems will never lose the assembly. That's just crazy!!!). Though that situation wasn't motivated by pinko Europeanism but racism.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I will support upholding the veto. Some arrangement might be possilbe, but certainly not allowing striking by critical gov't employees.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

NAY

There is no way for any negotiation between gov't and doctors or police threatening to go on strike can end in a balanced result that works not just for the police but also for society and taxpayers. The relationship is different and thus it is impossible to take the same approach with them as you would with workers in a private enterprize.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Does the 72-hour period apply here as well?

If not, well, AYE

Hate me for it, but I oppose the process of vetoing bills in principle. Probably that's just as I come from a parliamentary democracy, a country where that single figure outside the legislative that we call President has just no power whatsoever (understandable when you know our history), where all legislative decisions are completely left to the Legislative. Well, yeah.

The Pinko European strikes again, I guess.

The Hapsburgs created and preserved Austria (indirectly). Without them Merkel would be your Chancellor.